1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a terminal apparatus, transaction information management system, transaction information management method, and a computer program thereof. The present invention more particularly relates to a terminal apparatus, a transaction information management system, a transaction information management method, and a computer program thereof with which transaction information such as goods and services that are dealt with by customers and suppliers is registered, and the goods and services are managed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Large and middle-sized retail shops have been equipped with point-of-sale (POS) systems. A POS system is configured by POS terminal apparatuses and upper rank apparatuses connected to a network. A POS terminal apparatus registers each transaction by scanning a bar-code attached to merchandise and generates transaction information that is sent to an upper rank apparatus. The upper rank apparatus receives the transaction information and manages it as a transaction log.
Once the transaction information is registered by the upper rank apparatus, the transaction information cannot be altered easily in order to avoid illegal alteration. In real businesses, however, POS operators often wish to add and/or cancel an item after the transaction information is registered. It is often desired that the transaction information that has already been registered by the upper rank apparatus be revised.
As one of the related arts, a sales registration data processing apparatus has been proposed as described in the Japanese Laid-open patent application No. 7-168976.
In the Japanese Laid-open patent application No. 7-168976 describes a technique in which a POS operator (cashier) can retrieve the transaction information from the upper rank apparatus and revise it. The sales registration data processing apparatus of the Japanese Laid-open patent application No. 7-168976 can correct the transaction information that was registered in the past, but cannot add an item at all. The sales registration data processing apparatus of the Japanese Laid-open patent application No. 7-168976 can print a receipt of the item that is corrected, but cannot print a receipt corresponding to the transaction information in which the new item is included.
The sales registration data processing apparatus described in the Japanese Laid-open patent application No. 7-168976 only corrects the transaction information that has been registered, but cannot add new items at all. In the case of conventional POS systems, an addition of a new item is regarded as a new transaction, and transaction information corresponding to the new item is registered separately from the existing transaction information. The receipt corresponding to the new item is issued separately from the receipt of the existing transaction information. A receipt corresponding to the new item is issued in addition to the receipt issued for the past transaction.